Beetle2010.105.0005

By definition, a beetle is a large, long-handled wooden mallet used with a plug & feather to reduce the size of slate blocks. Although this particular object is undated, it is a carryover of tools that were part of the Welsh quarrying tradition and is indicative of a time when hand tools dominated quarrying.

Workers used wooden mallets or beetles because they resulted in little damage to the metal wedges that they struck. The wedges were often produced in the quarry blacksmith shop, before the time of harder, tempered steel.

The WPA mural, Men Working in the Slate Quarry (1939), depicts prominently in the middle portion of the mural a worker ready to split a piece of slate into a size manageable for the slate splitter to work with using a hammer and chisel. See the mural as you explore the rest of the museum.

Today, the beetle has been replaced by saws with diamond studded blades.